Chronicling Welfare's Success Stories

HARTFORD — They look like many of the family portraits any parent would proudly display at home.

The face of a young girl walking into church in her communion dress. A daughter hugging her mother at her college graduation.

The black-and-white photographs represent only a portion of the emotions and images on display until May 31 at the Legislative Office Building. They are among a collection of 100 pictures of eight women going off welfare in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

``Families Receiving Welfare: Untold Stories'' made its debut in Connecticut Wednesday during an opening reception in the main atrium at the Legislative Office Building.

Seven photographers worked on the photodocumentary, intended to shatter stereotypes of families on public assistance. They spent more than a year following these women and every aspect of their lives -- from the despair of losing a loved one to a mother kneeling in bed and praying to God for strength to recover from addiction.

The women came from different ethnic backgrounds. Some were on assistance because of abusive relationships,others because of the loss of the family breadwinner.

Christine Breslin, a free-lance photographer from West Hartford, followed a mother from Hartford.

``It's just to tell people that most people aren't the same and not to judge a book by its cover,'' she said. ``Everybody's different and you have to go deeper than the cover of a book to see what's inside of it.''

Laura Del Valle of Bristol was one of the women photographed. She came from her full-time job in purchasing at Tunxis Community Technical College to speak at Wednesday's reception.

``You can't imagine what people on welfare go through until you've walked a mile in their shoes,'' she said.

Del Valle, a mother of two, said she may be off welfare, but she's still struggling financially and emotionally.

Del Valle was one of three subjects of the photodocumentary who attended Wednesday's reception. The only other subject from Connecticut, who lives in Hartford, was unable to attend.

The welfare story continues to evolve as families like the Del Valles continue to drop from the rolls. In Hartford alone, the number of welfare recipients has declined by almost half, from 31,548 in 1996 to 16,776 in 1999, according to the state Department of Social Services. Statewide, those numbers also have plummeted, from 160,882 in 1996 to 85,890 in 1999.

Joyce Tentor of East Hartford, a friend of one of the photographers for the project, said she said admired the strength of the women considering the adversity they confronted in their lives.

Formerly a single mother, Tentor said she could relate to the issues of child care and parenting in the women's lives.

``We have love here, we have overcome many, many kinds of disabilities, mental and physical and these people have shown that there is an incentive,'' she said. ``And they haven't been beaten by the system.''